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Brewers win wild one behind Weeks' homer

Jul 17, 2011 - 6:23 AM Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Rickie Weeks hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning, lifting the Brewers to an 8-7 win over the Rockies in a rain-delayed and wild game Saturday night.

Milwaukee scored the winning runs with two outs after Prince Fielder walked and Weeks belted Huston Street's 0-1 slider over the center field wall for an 8-6 lead.

Todd Helton hit a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to make it a one-run game, but John Axford got Troy Tulowitzki on a ground ball to seal the win.

The Brewers bounced back after losing the first two games of this four-game series by a combined 16-3 score.

Colorado finished the game without catcher Chris Iannetta and manager Jim Tracy, who were both ejected during Milwaukee's three-run rally in the seventh inning after arguing with umpire Cory Blaser about a close play at the plate.

After catching Mark Kotsay's fly ball in center, Dexter Fowler gunned a throw to home that skipped off the mound and landed in Iannetta's glove in good position for a tag.

Replays showed that Iannetta appeared to catch Corey Hart with a tag on his backside just before he slid across the plate.

Iannetta sure thought so -- he slammed his mask down and was tossed almost immediately. Tracy raced out to get in between his jawing catcher and the ump and was also thrown out.

The play gave Milwaukee a 5-3 lead. It grew even bigger in importance because the Brewers won by a run.

"The guy was clearly out," Tracy said.

"Close play (but) I got in there," countered Hart. "I didn't think there was going to be that big a fuss about it."

It was the ugliest moment of the inning, but not by much. The go-ahead runs scored earlier on a Helton error when the Rockies first baseman charged Nyjer Morgan's drag bunt down the line and grabbed it with his glove. But -- using his glove in a rush -- he scooped the ball over Iannetta's head, allowing Josh Wilson and Jonathan Lucroy to score.

The Rockies came back to take a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the seventh on Helton's two-run double off the top of the right field wall and Tulowitzki's RBI single.

Milwaukee promptly answered in the eighth, as pinch-runner Yuniesky Betancourt scored from third on pinch-hitter George Kottaras' groundout.

The lead changed hands three times in the last three innings and the teams combined for 22 hits and three errors. Three of the game's 15 runs were unearned -- but it seemed like more.

"I think if you look back there were obviously runs that were scored on both sides that shouldn't have been scored," said Tracy.

Both starters helped their own cause -- Colorado's Jhoulys Chacin hit an RBI single and Milwaukee's Zack Greinke walked and scored on Hart's two-run homer.

But neither factored in the decision of a game that was delayed 49 minutes by rain and slowed several times by sometimes sloppy rallies.

Francisco Rodriguez (3-2) pitched a scoreless eighth in his first appearance since arriving from the Mets via trade to earn the win and Axford notched his 24th save.

Street (0-3) took the loss in one inning after throwing Weeks a bad pitch.

"It was not a Huston Street-type slider," said Tracy.

The first odd occurrence of the game came when the Rockies scored three runs in the second inning after Fowler fanned for what should have been the third out.

But Fowler reached first base on catcher Jonathan Lucroy's throwing error while Ian Stewart, who had tripled, scored on the play. Iannetta knocked Fowler in with a double to the left field wall and Chacin chopped a single through the left side to make it 3-0.

Greinke drew a four-pitch walk and came home when Hart pulled his 12th homer over the left field wall, getting the Brewers within 3-2 in the fifth.

Fowler raced to the warning track in center field to catch Morgan's long fly ball for the final out. The top of the sixth also ended on a good defensive play when Tulowitzki snared a hopper up the middle, spun, and gunned Casey McGehee out at first.

"We battled all night long. There's no getting around that," said Tracy.

Game Notes

Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun left game in sixth because of tightness in his left leg. Mark Kotsay replaced him in field for bottom of the inning. Braun's 23-game hitting streak ended Friday.